ENTRY 2: Semiotics and its mind-boggling terms

Semiotics is a topic that is full of words which at first seems "English enough", but then you will realized they are actually used as special lexis. I have always feel grateful for the author to bold and italicized all those words. So what is this obscure field?

To put simply, semiotics study signs - anything that can be use to represent something else. Daniel Chandler wrotes that semioticians nowadays studies not just the signs, but how the meanings carried by signs are made (2005). He also pointed out that "semiotics represents a range of studies... rather than an independent academic discipline". The study of signs involves how signs are created (the rules), under what context a sign is created, and how signs are interpreted.

A sign is made of two part, a signifier, and a signified. Below is an attempt at explaining what these two terms are will be followed by some examples.

Signifiers - The part of a sign that is formed by the experiences of your 5 biological senses. It is the "physical" part of a sign. e.g. the shape, colors, smell, texture, sound.

Signifieds - The meaning of the sign. e.g. A plastic bottle, a traffic light, an indication of a fire alarm.

Denotation is the description of a sign. It is different from a signifier; it is a lengthy description of the signs physical appearance. Chandler describes it as "the definitional, 'literal', 'obvious' or 'commonsense' meaning of a sign" (2008). It is literal, obvious, in the way that it has no intended implying of any messages or meaning. Using the examples from above, denotation can be "a plastic bottle with a blue cap, one-third of it covered by plastics and is almost empty", "a black-colored traffic light with a dent on the pole which shines red, on a junction", "the sound sounds like a doorbell ringing continuously".

Connotations are the mental concepts linked to the signs. It is a second level of meaning which is produced by a sign. A sign may carry multiple connotations, and the meaning of a sign is subjective from one person to another. One person may perceive the bottle of water as a life-saver in a desert, while another may view the almost-finished water bottle as trash. A notification alarm can be perceived by one person as a distraction (in class), while it is useful for the person who sets it.

When using semiotics in analysis, it is important for the analyst to have a high level of knowledge about the object of analysis. This is due to the fact that connotations are derived from codes, a rule used to connect the signified to the meaning. In Martin Irvine's words, "For semiotics, a code is the framework, a learned a shared conceptual connection at work in all uses of signs" (2005). Different codes are created in different communities that have different cultures. So 

References:
Chandler, D. (2008). Denotation, Connotation and Myth. Semiotics for beginners. Retrieved  September 21, 2012 from
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem06.html

Chandler, D. (2005). Introduction. Semiotics for beginners. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html

Irvine, M. (2005). Media Theory and Semiotics: Key Terms and Concepts. Retrieved September 21, 2012 from http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/theory-keyterms.html